Spider Veins

Spider veins are also called broken capillaries and all they are is just enlargements of the small blood vessels of the skin. They are enlarged so much that you can actually see the red blood and that’s why you can see these red squiggly lines. They occur because the wall of the blood vessel weakens and, as it weakens, it stretches out and fills up with more blood. Spider veins occur either on the face or on the legs. The most common cause for spider veins on the legs is female hormones, estrogens either during pregnancy or from birth control pills, heredity because you have spider veins just because your mother had them. And also trauma, knocking into your legs, athletics or women even tend to get them on the inside of their knees where they cross their legs. On the face, the usual cause for spider veins is either sun exposure or else female hormones. The breast treatment for spider veins depends on where they are. On your legs, the best treatment is spider vein injections. Don’t let the word “injections” scare you. They’re not painful. Because the needle, which is very tiny, is put very high up in the skin, that’s where these blood vessels are, and it’s almost above the level of the nerves. It may be one treatment or it may be several treatments. After the treatment, you wear tight compression stockings for three days and that helps the spider veins go away faster. If the spider veins are on your face, the best treatment is lasers. I’m a laser specialist and, despite that, I restrict laser treatments to the face, not to the legs because, on the legs, laser treatments take longer to heal, are more painful and more expensive but, on the face, they usually work the first time, and they’re not painful on the face because the blood vessels are higher up and they work very well. So, if you have spider veins, they’re easily treated. You don’t have to tolerate them. See your dermatologist for a treatment that will get rid of your spider veins.

Spider veins, also known as varicose veins, are a skin condition that many people have, usually as a result of age. Dr. Schultz shares this and other causes as well as ways to fix spider veins.

i am 14 and i have spider veins on the back of my knees and on my inner thighs and i do sit with my legs crossed over and wear skinny jeans and stuff alot.can they be reduced or something im way to young for injections and laser right?

Neal Schultz, M.D. on December 8, 2009 at 9:10pm

@Neha: There is no age limit or minimum for treatment of spider viens by injections (sclerotherapy) or laser treatment. I also don't know of any other effective treatment for this problem.